Brazil's Alison Dos Santos smashed the world record in the men's 400m hurdles at the Diamond League meet in Zurich on Thursday.
Dos Santos clocked a sensational 45.80 seconds to beat the previous mark of 45.94sec set by Norway's Karsten Warholm when winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Asked whether he thought he might break the world record, Dos Santos was in no doubt: "I did, I did!
"As soon as I knew I was coming here, I was excited. The weather's good, the track's amazing."
Dos Santos, the 2022 world champion who won world silver last year as well as two Olympic bronzes, will leave Zurich with a cheque for $80,000 for having broken the record.
Dos Santos, drawn in lane six inside Warholm, kept early track on the traditionally fast-starting Norwegian.
The pair were neck-and-neck coming into the final 150 metres, before Dos Santos put on the afterburners down the home straight, immediately dropping Warholm.
From there, it was just a race between the 26-year-old Brazilian and the line.
He did not hold back, crashing through to finish in amazing style.
"I hope that Brazil stopped to watch this as much as the people here in the stadium," said Dos Santos.
"This has been an incredible night, I have no words to explain what happened other than I just broke the world record.
"I have been showing great form throughout the season -- that I am fast, I am strong."
Dos Santos said there had been fundamental changes made to his training and racing in preparation for a tilt at the world record.
"I'm starting faster, I'm finishing stronger, and that is what I have to do to be able to break a world record," he said.
"I was looking for my coach after I crossed the finish line. I was the one running, but he is the one who made this possible -- someone who believed in me when I was younger.
"He helped me to develop both as an athlete and as a person, too. He's like an older brother, like a dad to me."
Warholm swept in on the coattails of Dos Santos in 46.69sec, which also beat his meet record set last year, while Nigeria's Ezekiel Nathaniel was third (47.50).
"From Silesia it did not look like it was going to come today, I would say," Warholm said of Dos Santos's new WR.
"But after the hurdle 4-5 he looked extremely good. He was brilliant."
Warholm was left satisfied with his own performance, saying it was "really good".
"But on the other hand, it is like nothing to do. I just cannot go out there and run one second faster because he does it. That is not how it works," he added.
"So I have got to get back to the drawing board and do something else. I still feel I can do something about it.
"I have been running 45.94 before. It is unbelievable. There is nothing more to say. It is a crazy event."
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